Assessing Market Demand for IPv6 in Consumer Technology
By Mike Roussey
Director, v6 Transition

Turning Our Attention to IPv6 and Consumer Technology

The vast majority of news regarding IPv6 has centered on OMB’s mandate that Federal Agencies transition their network backbones by June 2008. To this point, considerably less has been said of the subsequent and potentially massive consumer migration to IPv6 capable devices in their home and personal networks in the United States. Assuming that the government does not mandate a transition, a consumer transition to IPv6 in the United States will be driven by market demand. In other words, it won’t be a “because I said so” impetus to the consumer migration, rather a “what’s in it for me” scenario that will drive the consumer transition. Certainly the government’s transition will influence and impact consumer technology, especially when innovation and enhanced capabilities are discovered as IPv6 is transitioned into federal networks.

IPv6 is an enabling technology, and not a silver bullet that will immediately provide enhanced capabilities to the consumer. IPv6 will provide almost infinitely more IP addresses than IPv4 and will enhance auto-configuration, quality of service, and security and authentication capabilities. IPv6 along with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) integrated into mobile devices and consumer technology will open many new opportunities for consumers in terms of logistics and how they do business. This begs the question, “Which of the redeeming attributes of IPv6 will ultimately drive the market demand for IPv6 capable services and devices?”

A Glimpse of the Future? Some Examples in the Global Marketplace

Two products currently in the global markets which may help to answer this question are Sony’s location free TV and Panasonic’s IPv6 enabled network camera. Sony’s location free TV is a device that connects your TV equipment (DVR, set-top box) to a client outside the home over the Internet. Presently, the service has to connect to a Sony server so it can always be located, but once the switch is made to IPv6, users will be able to connect to a fixed address that will never change. Currently, a user must use his PC as an interconnection device (because TV devices are not yet IPv6 enabled), but once all of the elements have been made IPv6 capable, users will be able to connect directly on a fixed, permanent IPv6 address. Another device that is IPv6 enabled and already on the shelves in Japanese computer stores is Panasonic’s network camera. This device simply needs to be plugged into an IPv6 connection and can serve images itself, allowing the user to connect directly to the camera instead of interconnecting through a PC.

Both the location free TV (once configured to IPv6) and the IPv6 enabled Panasonic network camera will require an IPv6 connection to work to their full potential. Although there are several ISPs that currently offer IPv6 to businesses, at present IPv6 residential service can only be obtained from NTT, Hexago, or Hurricane Electric, all which offer an IPv6 tunnel broker over IPv4. Although many ISPs have the capability to offer IPv6, they currently do not and will not until there is stronger market demand. Sadly, a quick scan of the consumer market for IPv6 products yields only a few items. In addition to Panasonic’s camera, Silex offers a couple of print servers that are IPv6 enabled. Microsoft’s upcoming launch of its IPv6 enabled Operating System (which defaults to IPv6) will loom large as well. As IPv6 enabled products and applications hit the market, service providers will follow suit with an IPv6 enabled Internet.

Making Sense of it All: Molding the Technology into the Marketplace

In the meantime, manufacturers and consumers alike will come to terms with how to utilize the enhancements of IPv6. As this process occurs, the number of products will increase dramatically. Three fundamentals that will most certainly ring true for all consumers in the technology market:

• Consumers will want identifiable value of the technology associated with IPv6.
• Consumers will not want it to cost more than their current products.
• Consumer will want the transition and setup to IPv6 to be easy.

Some Final Comments

The current IPv6 enabled products on the consumer market are most likely viable options for technophiles and technology fast movers. However, the technology driving both of them will present a powerful business case to consumers. Imagine the value to parents who are easily able to check in on their child through an IPv6 enabled mobile phone that accesses their IPv6 enabled camera. Or, consider the usefulness to a business traveler who is able to access home video libraries such as Tivo (or the like) from a remote location. Other devices, which are yet to be developed, may present consumers the ability to remotely accomplish many things with elements that they have networked in their homes. As with any technology, manufacturers, service providers and consumers will ultimately define the place of IPv6 in the consumer marketplace and will apply the technology in a way that is most valuable and meaningful to consumers.